THERAPEUTIC ACTION OF FERMENTED MILK 39 



is one of the first, most definite and most reassuring signs of im- 

 provement in the clinical condition of certain kinds of patients) to 

 make use of any mode of lactic acid bacillus therapy which will inhibit 

 the normal development of B. lactis cerogenes or B. coli communis in 

 the digestive tract would, in my judgment, be a profound error in prin- 

 ciple. I do not wish to intimate that I consider B. hulgaricus or any 

 of the common lactic acid bacilli to be capable of seriously checking the 

 growth of B. lactis cerogenes and B. coli communis in the digestive 

 tract, but wish to state that in so far as such modification is possible 

 it appears to me not without undesirable features. To the validity of 

 this statement there is one possible exception that occurs to me. In 

 cases where there is a colon bacillus infection of the intestine, that is 

 to say, an inflammatory state associated with a great over-growth of 

 B. coli, the antagonistic influence of lactic acid bacilli might be useful. 

 But I am not sure that this is more than a merely apparent exception 

 to the general rule which I have above expressed as valid, for it is not 

 clear that it has been proved that the colon bacilli apparently answerable 

 for digestive infections are in reality the normal colon bacilli. It ap- 

 pears to me more likely that they are commonly variants of such bacilli 

 whose fermentative characters have not yet been determined fully and 

 precisely. 



I would also mention here the fact that there are diseases of the 

 intestinal tract associated with the presence of bacteria capable of 

 forming lactic acid. Obviously, then, this property of a microorganism 

 does not necessarily screen the digestive tract from injury. 



One of the most important and most loudly heralded effects of the 

 administration of soured milk is that on intestinal putrefaction. Un- 

 der conditions of health the putrefactive decompositions in the intes- 

 tinal tract seldom attain a considerable degree of intensity — a surpris- 

 ing fact when we consider the immense numbers of bacteria which 

 inhabit the large intestine. In many pathological states the condi- 

 tions of putrefaction in the intestine are very much altered in the direc- 

 tion of great intensification. This is shown both by the dominance of 

 putrefactive microorganisms in the large intestine and by the appear- 

 ance of products of putrefaction in the urine. It is unnecessary here 

 to discuss the nature of these products. It should, however, be pointed 

 out that the intensity of putrefaction as judged by the quantity of 

 putrefactive products in the urine is notably influenced by the quan- 

 tity of protein material ingested. We may say that in general a con- 

 siderable increase in the protein intake is followed by a corresponding 

 increase in putrefaction and that a marked diminution in protein 

 intake is followed by a distinct falling off in putrefaction. This state- 

 ment holds true in general in conditions of health and it is even more 

 strikingly exemplified in cases of chronic intestinal infection associated 



